The Sun's Differential Rotation
James Wood
September 04, 2008
The Sunīs Differential Rotation
You donīt see much discussion of it but our Sun is considered to display differential rotation meaning that the surface of the Sun does not all rotate at the same speed. We can see this difference in the passage of Sunspots as they pass across the surface of the Sun. I have never seen it because I do not spend time at a telescope. I have seen drawn pictures and photographs of the circumstance and it is quite apparent that Sunspots when they are photographed in sequence show that the Sunspots closest to the equator appear to move across the surface faster than those going up towards the poles. Generally the Sun rotates at the equator once in about 25 Earth days. I think that Wikipedia Web encyclopedia comments that the equator one every 25.27 Earth days. I have seen a lot of articles on the Sunīs rotation and I will use the 25 Earth Days.
I first learned of this in one of my older Astronomy books. I was very curious why the Sun would have such a strange rotation. Going back to the topic over the years from time to time I became aware that the reason was the interior of the Sun. not being a solid, was in constant flux with the addition of serious magnetic action taking place. As I understand it the interior of the Sun is not thought to rotate differentially. It is the interior disruptive stuff that makes its way to the surface providing the appearance of differential rotation. I hope I am right about this. I just looked it up on the Web again to double-check it. Before I learned that to be the cause I suspected it might have been caused by the pull of the various planets moving the Suns surface like the water on the Earths surface is moved. Of course, this is not going to provide the effect we see because the planets are mostly in the same line and could not provide the gradual spread that we see with the Sunspots. The interior activity could be due to the planet pull due to the fact that the center of gravity for every planet orbiting the Sun, except Jupiter, is actually inside the interior of the Sun. The Jupiter/Sun relationship has a center of gravity likely at the Suns equator vicinity.
We are told the rotation gets gradually slower as you go from the equator toward the poles. This works out, based on the observations of astronomers to 25 Earth days at the equator and 36 Earth days at the poles. We have a difference of 11 days delay between rotations at the extremes. A curious fact is that the differences in the rotation between the equator and the upper pole are also true from the equator down to the pole at the bottom. That kind of uniform differential rotation seems very strange to me if it is caused by magnetic strife in the interior of the Sun.
This was a topic of interest to me because I have contended that sunlight is different from what the mainstream scientists tell us it is. If you read my book you will already know why I disagree. In addition I have written two articles here on The American Chronicle Ū that serve to explain my unorthodox views on the nature of sunlight. I cannot prove my theory by logic alone but I can show that the theory is consistent with what we see taking place in this very mechanical Solar System. Consider the Sun with six bands of equal size going from the equator to the upper pole each rotating at a different speed. Then consider that the stated reason for this effect is that there is a great deal of gas turbulence and magnetic flux going to the Sunīs surface causing the speed bandings we see. Now consider that the area from the equator down to the lower pole we have the same banding due to interior activity of the Sun. If this activity is random, as it must be based on the description of the causes how would it produce surface effects above and below the equator that are about identical. I do not think it can. It may be that the cause of the speed banding is not known and that is possible because the Sun is such a complex item.
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/differential_rotation.html This is a good Web site to give a short explanation of the Sunīs behavior.
My view of the differential rotation of the Sun is that it is an illusion due to the difference in the light that we see from the different parts of the Sun. A sketch would help me to explain what I contend is happening but in txt format I cannot provide one. I will try.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ++---pole
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++-equator
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ++---+pole
In the first post they put the Google add on top of my "sketch" so I had to try again.
I want you to assume that the plus signs (+) are the outer edge of the Sun. The dashes are to represent the rough dividing lines of the differential speed lanes. The zeros (o) represent sunspots. If you assume that all of the sunspots were in a vertical line at the left extreme edge of the Sun the progression of the sunspots will assume the relative positions as shown in the above rendition. This is the way observation of the sunspots traveling across the Sun surface gave rise to the theory that the equator was rotating faster than the rest of the Sun surface. We are told that light is a constant traveling at a constant speed. That means that light must have an instantaneous speed at blast off as it does for its top speed. I do not agree with that but I accept the conclusion for right now.
The Sun is about 864,000 miles in diameter. That means that the poles and the far edges are about 432,000 miles farther from us than the equator. At 186.281 miles per second the light from the poles and the edges will take about 2.32 seconds to catch up with the light leaving from the equator. The equator rotates once every 25 Earth days. 25 X 86,400 will give us 2,160,000 seconds in one Sun day. The Sunīs circumference is 2,714,342.4 miles. We can divide the 2,714,342.4 by the 2,160,000 and see that the Sun rotates 1.25664 miles per second. (Note the coincidence of 3.1416 / 1.25664 = 25.) So when the light from the edges gets to the equator the Sun has turned (2.32 x 1.25664) 2.91 miles putting the picture of the Sunīs equator 2.91 miles farther along than the poles or the farthest edges, this is a simple mechanical effect based upon established observations. What does this do to the picture we will see here at Earth?
I want to enlarge this scene with my contention that light does not blast off at 186,281 miles per second. Completely separate from the unlikely prospect that anything in nature could make an instantaneous transition from stop to maximum speed, I have reason to suggest an alternative starting speed as I have discussed in my other articles. Suppose I am correct and that the blastoff speed of light is something lass than 112,941 miles a second with quick acceleration to about 112,941 miles per second after which it continues to speed up until it passes the Earthīs vicinity at 186,281. This is more fully explained in my Chronicle article "Light Speed, an alternative theory".
We now have a different picture of the Sun. At the blast off speed it takes the sunlight from the poles and the edges 3.825 seconds to catch up with the light leaving the equator. We can multiply that difference by the Sunīs rotation (3.825 X 1.25564) and find that the Sun will rotate 4.8 miles before the light from the extremes gets to the equator. Also, for every point between the edges and the poles to the equator you will get an apparent different speed of rotation that, I contend, will show the sunspots in the manner of my depiction above.
Some comment should be made about potential proof of these conflicting views. I admit I cannot prove my contentions. I contend that the mainstream cannot prove their stated conclusions. For now each of us must weigh the situation on the basis of what argument appears to be the most reasonable. Incidentally, the time delay that I recite is almost right on what was estimated to exist by at least one astronomer that considered time factors.
www.surfingthesolarsystem.com & www.egpok.com
You donīt see much discussion of it but our Sun is considered to display differential rotation meaning that the surface of the Sun does not all rotate at the same speed. We can see this difference in the passage of Sunspots as they pass across the surface of the Sun. I have never seen it because I do not spend time at a telescope. I have seen drawn pictures and photographs of the circumstance and it is quite apparent that Sunspots when they are photographed in sequence show that the Sunspots closest to the equator appear to move across the surface faster than those going up towards the poles. Generally the Sun rotates at the equator once in about 25 Earth days. I think that Wikipedia Web encyclopedia comments that the equator one every 25.27 Earth days. I have seen a lot of articles on the Sunīs rotation and I will use the 25 Earth Days.
I first learned of this in one of my older Astronomy books. I was very curious why the Sun would have such a strange rotation. Going back to the topic over the years from time to time I became aware that the reason was the interior of the Sun. not being a solid, was in constant flux with the addition of serious magnetic action taking place. As I understand it the interior of the Sun is not thought to rotate differentially. It is the interior disruptive stuff that makes its way to the surface providing the appearance of differential rotation. I hope I am right about this. I just looked it up on the Web again to double-check it. Before I learned that to be the cause I suspected it might have been caused by the pull of the various planets moving the Suns surface like the water on the Earths surface is moved. Of course, this is not going to provide the effect we see because the planets are mostly in the same line and could not provide the gradual spread that we see with the Sunspots. The interior activity could be due to the planet pull due to the fact that the center of gravity for every planet orbiting the Sun, except Jupiter, is actually inside the interior of the Sun. The Jupiter/Sun relationship has a center of gravity likely at the Suns equator vicinity.
We are told the rotation gets gradually slower as you go from the equator toward the poles. This works out, based on the observations of astronomers to 25 Earth days at the equator and 36 Earth days at the poles. We have a difference of 11 days delay between rotations at the extremes. A curious fact is that the differences in the rotation between the equator and the upper pole are also true from the equator down to the pole at the bottom. That kind of uniform differential rotation seems very strange to me if it is caused by magnetic strife in the interior of the Sun.
This was a topic of interest to me because I have contended that sunlight is different from what the mainstream scientists tell us it is. If you read my book you will already know why I disagree. In addition I have written two articles here on The American Chronicle Ū that serve to explain my unorthodox views on the nature of sunlight. I cannot prove my theory by logic alone but I can show that the theory is consistent with what we see taking place in this very mechanical Solar System. Consider the Sun with six bands of equal size going from the equator to the upper pole each rotating at a different speed. Then consider that the stated reason for this effect is that there is a great deal of gas turbulence and magnetic flux going to the Sunīs surface causing the speed bandings we see. Now consider that the area from the equator down to the lower pole we have the same banding due to interior activity of the Sun. If this activity is random, as it must be based on the description of the causes how would it produce surface effects above and below the equator that are about identical. I do not think it can. It may be that the cause of the speed banding is not known and that is possible because the Sun is such a complex item.
http://www.windows.ucar.edu/tour/link=/sun/Solar_interior/Sun_layers/differential_rotation.html This is a good Web site to give a short explanation of the Sunīs behavior.
My view of the differential rotation of the Sun is that it is an illusion due to the difference in the light that we see from the different parts of the Sun. A sketch would help me to explain what I contend is happening but in txt format I cannot provide one. I will try.
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ++---pole
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++-equator
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss 0--++
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss ++---+pole
In the first post they put the Google add on top of my "sketch" so I had to try again.
I want you to assume that the plus signs (+) are the outer edge of the Sun. The dashes are to represent the rough dividing lines of the differential speed lanes. The zeros (o) represent sunspots. If you assume that all of the sunspots were in a vertical line at the left extreme edge of the Sun the progression of the sunspots will assume the relative positions as shown in the above rendition. This is the way observation of the sunspots traveling across the Sun surface gave rise to the theory that the equator was rotating faster than the rest of the Sun surface. We are told that light is a constant traveling at a constant speed. That means that light must have an instantaneous speed at blast off as it does for its top speed. I do not agree with that but I accept the conclusion for right now.
The Sun is about 864,000 miles in diameter. That means that the poles and the far edges are about 432,000 miles farther from us than the equator. At 186.281 miles per second the light from the poles and the edges will take about 2.32 seconds to catch up with the light leaving from the equator. The equator rotates once every 25 Earth days. 25 X 86,400 will give us 2,160,000 seconds in one Sun day. The Sunīs circumference is 2,714,342.4 miles. We can divide the 2,714,342.4 by the 2,160,000 and see that the Sun rotates 1.25664 miles per second. (Note the coincidence of 3.1416 / 1.25664 = 25.) So when the light from the edges gets to the equator the Sun has turned (2.32 x 1.25664) 2.91 miles putting the picture of the Sunīs equator 2.91 miles farther along than the poles or the farthest edges, this is a simple mechanical effect based upon established observations. What does this do to the picture we will see here at Earth?
I want to enlarge this scene with my contention that light does not blast off at 186,281 miles per second. Completely separate from the unlikely prospect that anything in nature could make an instantaneous transition from stop to maximum speed, I have reason to suggest an alternative starting speed as I have discussed in my other articles. Suppose I am correct and that the blastoff speed of light is something lass than 112,941 miles a second with quick acceleration to about 112,941 miles per second after which it continues to speed up until it passes the Earthīs vicinity at 186,281. This is more fully explained in my Chronicle article "Light Speed, an alternative theory".
We now have a different picture of the Sun. At the blast off speed it takes the sunlight from the poles and the edges 3.825 seconds to catch up with the light leaving the equator. We can multiply that difference by the Sunīs rotation (3.825 X 1.25564) and find that the Sun will rotate 4.8 miles before the light from the extremes gets to the equator. Also, for every point between the edges and the poles to the equator you will get an apparent different speed of rotation that, I contend, will show the sunspots in the manner of my depiction above.
Some comment should be made about potential proof of these conflicting views. I admit I cannot prove my contentions. I contend that the mainstream cannot prove their stated conclusions. For now each of us must weigh the situation on the basis of what argument appears to be the most reasonable. Incidentally, the time delay that I recite is almost right on what was estimated to exist by at least one astronomer that considered time factors.
www.surfingthesolarsystem.com & www.egpok.com
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